After the moles ate all of my stunning oriental lilies this year I had a lot of space that I needed to fill. I love cut flowers so after doing some research I decided that I would give Dahlias a try. Did you know that the dahlia was declared the national flower of Mexico in 1963. Also, quite surprisingly, the tubers were grown as a food crop by the Aztecs, I love Wikipedia!

I have always been so impressed when seeing the striking massive Dahlias at the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show that I used to go to every year when living in the UK. What always amazed me about Dahlias is that they are perfect, you can stare at them for minutes and still not find a malformed petal.

At the local garden center in Woodinville I was given the choice between close to 100 Dahlia options and frankly I had no idea where to start. In the end I bought a mixed package of Dahlias which had a label indicating that they were good for cut flowers. I also quite liked the idea that I would have no idea what the flower would look like until it bloomed.

WOW, was I not disappointed with the different types.

​I am totally addicted to these stunning flowers and now I need to find out if they grow well in Italy too :)